Narrative:A DHC-6 Twin Otter, N181CS, sustained substantial damage during landing at Louisburg-North Raleigh Airport, North Carolina. The pilot and two passengers sustained serious injuries. Day visual meteorological conditions prevailed and no flight plan was filed for the local business flight.
According to the pilot, the airplane was on the final leg of the traffic pattern when he reduced the power levers in order to descend further for landing, and he noticed that the right engine sounded like "the [propeller] was heading towards beta." The pilot increased the engine power and the sound "went away." Closer to the runway, he decreased engine power and the noise was heard again, the airplane yawed to the right, and he applied left aileron and rudder inputs in order to remain on the runway centerline. Over the runway, the pilot reduced the engine power to idle and the airplane "pushed hard to the right." Then, the pilot applied full power in an attempt to perform a go-around maneuver; however, the airplane yawed about 30 degrees off the runway centerline, the airplane touched down in the grass, and impacted trees prior to coming to rest.
During the accident sequence, the wings and fuselage were substantially damaged.
A postaccident examination of the maintenance logs indicated that an overhauled propeller was installed on the right engine and a test flight was performed on September 4, 2015, which was 8.7 flight hours prior to the accident.
Probable Cause:
PROBABLE CAUSE: " The propeller's movement to the beta position during landing for reasons that could not be determined during postaccident examination and testing, which resulted in an attempted go-around and subsequent loss of airplane control."
Accident investigation:
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Investigating agency: | NTSB |
Status: | Investigation completed |
Duration: | 269 days (9 months) | Accident number: | ERA15LA343 | Download report: | Summary report
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Classification:
Loss of control
Sources:
» NTSB
Photos
accident date:
06-09-2015type: de Havilland Canada DHC-6 Twin Otter 200
registration: N181CS
accident date:
06-09-2015type: de Havilland Canada DHC-6 Twin Otter 200
registration: N181CS
accident date:
06-09-2015type: de Havilland Canada DHC-6 Twin Otter 200
registration: N181CS
accident date:
06-09-2015type: de Havilland Canada DHC-6 Twin Otter 200
registration: N181CS
Video, social media
Map
This information is not presented as the Flight Safety Foundation or the Aviation Safety Network’s opinion as to the cause of the accident. It is preliminary and is based on the facts as they are known at this time.